Fox is once again playing around with the scheduling of Season 16 episodes of The Simpsons. With no new episodes aired since December 12th and the next one airing on Sunday January 16th, this marks one of the longest breaks the show has taken mid-season. Only 5 episodes have aired; compare this to 9 at the same time last season, and 13 way back in Season 7. This has sparked much speculation as to whether strikes held by the cast will shorten the Season’s run to as few as 20 episodes. Those in contact with Al Jean insist that the standard 22 episodes will be aired this season. It was expected that new episodes would follow from January 16th with few breaks, but the latest schedule release from Fox shows a rerun of Sleeping With The Enemy airing the following week. Double features have been suggested but since Fox has Malcolm, American Dad, and Family Guy, Arrested Development and The Sketch Show to play around with on Sunday nights this year, it’s difficult to say what they’re up to. We’ll keep you posted.
